Conference on ALBA-TCP held at the University of Tehran

Diplomats from member countries discussed the organization's major achievements and challenges it is facing.

On December 14, at the University of Tehran, a conference entitled “The People’s Resistance to American Imperialism” was held, organized by the The Organization for the Mobilization of the Oppressed (Basij), as a tribute to the first decade since the creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP).

In recent years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown an increasing interest in the organization, where it is currently an observer member and with whom it shares an anti-imperialist geopolitical vision based on the right to self-determination and non-intervention of foreign states in its internal affairs.

In recent years, Iran has shown increasing interest in approaching the block, with which it shares an anti-imperialist geopolitical vision based on the right to self-determination and non-interference of foreign states in the internal affairs.

In addition, the conference hosted various diplomatic representatives of member countries - Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, and Ecuador - in order to analyze the present situation of the institutions, their major achievements, and future challenges.

In this context, Amenhotep Zambrano Contreras, Venezuela's ambassador to Iran, stated that throughout its history ALBA-TCP has had the ability to complete major projects, such as the creation of a bank with complete financial independence, transnational companies, and various media enterprises such as Telesur, La Radio del Sur, and Alba Radio - institutions serving to "protect the peoples’ interests”.

The ambassador of Nicaragua, Mario Barquero, in an indirect reference to the recent legislative elections in which the Venezuelan opposition came out victorious, opined that the organization "will not be affected by differences in governments" because what prevails within the bloc is a “general sense of solidarity" and the idea of a "fair market exchange”.

ALBA-TCP was founded in 2004 by the then president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and his Cuban counterpart, Fidel Castro. Originally intended as a political alliance to counterbalance the influence of the US in Latin America, it also transformed into an economic prototype on the fight against poverty, social exclusion, and for the progress of a populism, which later evolved to include a dozen nations.

In recent years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown an increasing interest in the organization, where it is currently an observer member and with whom it shares an anti-imperialist geopolitical vision based on the right to self-determination and non-intervention of foreign states in its internal affairs.